Posts tagged ‘Ben Zobrist’

Second base is a position that has some sneaky depth. To wit, on ESPN’s player rater the 3rd and 12th ranked second basemen are split by just 0.86 points on the scale. Conversely, it’s a 3.35 point split at first base at least 2.72 at every other position except for relief pitcher (but that’s not too surprising giving how little variance there is between RPs).

Despite this depth at the position, there aren’t a ton of building blocks at the position as the best are in their late 20s and already high-priced assets and the next cut is also filled with mid-20s guys with solid production, but nothing overwhelming that you would want as a primary keeper. Let’s take a look at the ones I did come up with, though.

Danny Espinosa (WAS, 24) – He just barely crossed the 100-game plateau for his career so there is a lack of track record, but it’s hard to argue with the across the board production even at the cost of batting average. He has a career .250 BABIP so far, though, so we could even see some growth there. I have been saying it since last year, but the Nats are really building something there in Washington and Espinosa will be a key part of the success.

Howard Kendrick (LAA, 27) – See what I mean? There’s nothing wrong with the actual depth of the position, but it’s thin on burgeoning talent. Even though he is atop of this list, if you combined the catchers, first basemen and second basemen, he’d be near the bottom. He is on pace for .308-16 HR-11 SB, but just 52 RBI (thanks to an inept supporting cast) and decent 81 runs scored, again because of his teammates. His price will vary from league to league, but considering that last year was his first full season and he already blew his shot at a second in a row this year, I doubt he’s too expensive anywhere.

Kelly Johnson (ARI, 29) – I have Johnson and Kendrick neck & neck here (along w/the next guy, to be honest). Johnson’s .215 batting average is no doubt ugly, but I am more focused on the 27 HR-18 SB-71 RBI-87 R pace and since we are focused on 2012, his batting average this year doesn’t mean much. He can be a .260ish or better hitter just as he was last year (.284) and in his two other full seasons (.287, .276). However, like Kendrick, even with an average at his career .264 he isn’t a prime building block.

Ben Zobrist (TB, 30) – Rinse and repeat from the first two guys. Zobrist has been an inconsistent, yet ultimately productive player the last two years and he is on pace for a season closer to his 2009 breakout when he was one of baseball’s best overall. While many believe 2008 to be his career year, his current pace is just 6 HR, 9 RBI and 1 SB behind. His runs are ahead by seven. The biggest difference is his batting average which by just over 3% (.297 to .265), but the counting stats production across four categories is more important than the average.

Neil Walker (PIT, 25) – A younger option than the last three, but I still have him as the lowest because he doesn’t produce across the board like the others and his power lags a bit, at least right now. He is doing his best work with runners on which has led to his gaudy RBI total, but we know it is hard to bank on that year-to-year and since that is his biggest category at this point I am reticent to rate too highly.

Here are this week’s MLB Sunday Twidbits which is something I’ll be doing every Sunday throughout the baseball season. It’s a simple exercise whereby I tour the league giving a statistical tidbit per team on Twitter feed (@sporer). Sometimes a team or two will get more than one if I have more than one nugget I really want to share, but every team will be represented at least once.

It’s been an interesting week. A few of the picks were knocked around while others excelled and perhaps excelled enough to keep the weekly totals strong. We’ll see after the week. Some things got bumped around this week including Scott Baker getting pushed to start against Kansas City instead of Tampa Bay which was beneficial since he got to avoid the white-hot Ben Zobrist. Jason Hammel didn’t start yesterday and is instead starting today. I guess he will count for a Saturday pick.

I’ll give another Saturday pick, but it is academic at this point since games have already started. I meant to post them yesterday, but I passed out early last night after a week of not getting much sleep. The last thing I saw for the night was Carlos Santana’s walkoff home run against my Tigers… what an awful way to fall asleep.

Chris Tillman (BAL @ CHW) – The White Sox just aren’t playing up to their ability. Tillman has had two good and two bad starts so far. He can feast on lesser teams so I’ll give him a shot against Chicago.

SUNDAY:

Jon Garland (LA v. SD) – Some like him, some don’t, but he performs. He has been especially reliable in the National League despite an unimpressive strikeout rate almost every year (just once above 4.8 since 2004). The Padres offense is downright abysmal making him an easy start. In fact, several lesser starters would be a start against this offense. It’s just sooo bad.

Bud Norris (HOU v. MIL) – What does this guy need to do to get his ownership rates up? All he has done is strikeout six or more in each of his five starts and allow just three runs in his last three starts totaling 18 innings. He has really cut down his walks from 4.5 BB/9 last year down below to 3.0 at 2.9. He isn’t just picking on trash, either. His last start came against the St. Louis Cardinals when he allowed 0 ER in six innings.